The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday it expects to complete canvassing of votes for senators and party-list groups in the May 12 elections within five to seven days.

In a press briefing, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said: "From the Municipal and Provincial Boards of Canvassers, they will be brought to the National Board of Canvassers. By our estimates, the canvassing in the national level will run from five to seven days."

"When you compare it to the nearly month-long canvassing in the manual elections, this will be a lot faster," he added.

In the May 2022 polls, the winning senatorial candidates were proclaimed after nine days while the winning party-list groups were named after 17 days.

Garcia said unofficial results of voting can be known as early as the night of Election Day.

This, he said, is due to speedy transmission of election results by the automated counting machines (ACMs).

"Hopefully, the people will not be surprised with our fast transmission of election results," said Garcia. DMS